Glee

With the popularity of High School Musical and American Idol I’m more than a little surprised it’s taken this long for one of the major networks to trot out something like Glee. The show centers around a young high school Spanish teacher (Matthew Morrison) who attempts to relive his own glory days by reinventing the Glee Club into something cool for the current generation.

The group includes the talented outcast (Lea Michelle), the football jock (Cory Monteith), the Asian girl (Jenna Ushkowitz), the obviously gay kid (Chris Colfer), the black girl with diva attitude (Amber Riley), and the wheelchair-bound Arty (Kevin McHale). I’d go into more detail, but the pilot doesn’t spend much time actually fleshing out more than one or two of these characters. Christopher Guest fans should also look for Jane Lynch as the, at least semi-evil, cheerleading coach. I was impressed with the musical performances in the pilot, though less so with the actual plot which I found more than a little unfocused and not that well written. But, again, it’s only a pilot. If the show gets some serious tweaking it’s got a chance to be the kind of “good for the whole family” show that all networks drool over. The show will begin it’s first season in September, Wednesday nights on FOX. Check out the official site for more info.